All European countries use the same alphabet that we use and that makes road signs pretty easy to follow. Speed limit signs are obvious enough and, except for the UK, all countries drive on the same side of the road that we do in the USA. Sure, each country has bizarre quirks and the idea of a speed limit-less German autobahn might be scary, but when you drive between cities or want to take a detour to see remote castles in the French countryside, you have to drive. I've driven (and by I, I mean my husband - so let's be clear about that!) in Italy, France, England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Austria, and Denmark. The great thing about the UK is that they speak English. Adjusting to driving on the opposite side of the road is enough of an adventure, it's good you don't have to worry about not being able to read any road signs. I would generally avoid (if possible) driving downtown in any major cities, but we've done that too (Milan, Sorrento, Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Vienna, Salzburg, to name a few).
Here are just some quick examples of amazing places we've been to that we could have never seen without a car. Isle of Skye in Scotland, Tintagel in England, Mont St. Michel in France, Mauthausen in Austria, Partnach Gorge in Germany, and Assisi in Italy. That's just one place in each country, but there are so so soooo many places to explore outside the cities!
Japan was the first country where we really didn't consider driving on our own. They follow UK driving rules, they have a language that is terribly difficult to understand, and Japanese drivers are nutso! Fortunately, Japan has one of the most amazing, efficient, safe, and fast public transit systems. The Shinkansen! We took trains everywhere in Japan and always made sure our hotels were within walking distance to a major station. The Japan JR rail pass came in handy in almost every city and, while pricy, it got us everywhere we wanted to go.
Kin to trains are the ever-present subway systems in major cities. They have them almost everywhere though not every city has a good one. You can easily do Paris and London in a single trip using all trains/subways (i.e. metro and tube) without renting a car. Generally when I travel, I'll start in a major city. I'll take a train or taxi from the airport into the city center, spend a few days there, and then get a rental car and head out of the city. I also always end my trip in city, so I return the car as soon as I arrive back in a city, and then use public transportation the last few days.
So far there have only been 2 cities where I genuinely found taxis better than anything (especially for airport transportation): Rome and Dubai. The Roman underground is great, but it doesn't (or at least it wasn't convenient for us in 2007) connect with the airport easily, so we planned on taking a taxi from the airport. Once in the city center, the subway takes you anywhere you want to go. (Just make sure you get a taxi from an official taxi stand and not from someone unofficial and eagerly awaiting to overcharge you!) Florence is the same way. Unless you are staying inside Florence, taxi is the best way to get in an out (you can walk the rest of it). In Dubai, however, the underground is just ok. If you're going to any shopping malls (and there are LOTS of them in Dubai) the subway is great. If you want to go anywhere else, you either have to walk or take a taxi. Dubai is not a walking city. Fortunately, taxis are cheap, safe, and everywhere, so it's no big deal. We even had a cab driver accept US dollars when he couldn't change the large bill we got from the Dubai ATM.
Buses are an option too. I am naturally leery of buses because I find them confusing and slow and smelly. But sometimes, they're really handy. In Kyoto, the subway tickets are not included on the JR pass and the buses get you much closer to the famous temples that you want to see. They were easy enough to navigate and the main stops at the famous temples were announced in English. Yay! We had a great deal of success using buses in Berlin. While we walked most of the city, buses were everywhere and fairly easy to figure out which we appreciated when our feet got tired. We also relied on buses in Abu Dhabi. While we stayed in Dubai the whole trip, we took day trips to other Emirates. One day we took a bus to Abu Dhabi. We took a taxi from the bus to the big mosque and the mall, but from there we took the public bus around. Since we only had a day there it was a chance to see the rest of the city in a quicker way than walking.
Though I'm a huge fan of renting a car, I understand that it's sometimes not the best or safest idea. For the trip that I'm planning to Southeast Asia (SEA), I will be testing out two entirely new methods of transportation: the infamous tuk tuk and something I call puddle jumping. Driving is supposedly very unsafe in SEA (which I'll confirm/deny at a later date) so I'm planning on flying in between cities and then relying on taxis, tuk tuk drivers (picture a motorbike with a little 2-seater carriage behind it), and public transport. Backpacking websites rave about taking buses or overnight sleeper trains. A local city bus is one thing, but I'm just too timid for a 7+ hour bus ride or 13 hour sleeper train with minimal privacy. It has taken me years of traveling to work up the courage to try a trip like SEA, so there are still things that I have to do my own way. I will be sure to report back with my best advice to ease your own fears.
In a nutshell, drive when you can but take advantage of a country's public transportation if it's good, reliable, and cost effective. Here are my top transportation DO's and DON'ts.
DON'T book a budge rental car! It will be a bigger expense, but the smaller rental car companies in the United States outsource their car rentals to smaller European companies. In Italy, we booked an Enterprise car (Enterprise is a pretty known car company right?) Nope. Didn't even exist in Italy. We spent an hour walking from terminal to terminal looking for them. We asked all over the place and never found them or their Italian counterpart. Make sure you book a big international company.
DO book a backup car. If you insist on booking a budget rental car, it doesn't hurt to use Avis or Hertz to book a backup car. In most cases, you do not have to pay in advance or even provide credit card info for car rentals, so what's the harm? If the budget car place fail you, Hertz or Avis will be there to save the day.
DO make sure you check and double check and call to confirm if you need an automatic car. Most cars in Europe are manual, and if you never learned to drive a stick shift you can do 1 of 2 things: use this an an opportunity to learn, or get an automatic. Automatic cars cost more...a lot more, and even the major car companies will try to give you a stick shift even if you reserved an automatic. Just be firm. When you are talking to the agent, remind them that it's an automatic. Make sure that your reservation confirmation says automatic and stand your ground. Also, have your back up car ready and don't be afraid to use it. At the end of the day, I've had the most success with hertz. Even in Copenhagen where the rental companies are small and the rental cars are even smaller, we arranged with hertz in advance to special order an automatic. Did we still have back up cars? Of course!
DO book train tickets in advance. Lots of people tell you that you can wait until the last minute, but then you have to take whatever is left available. In Japan, some of the train cars are for walk-ons only, but they have a line. If you are at the end of the line and the car is full, it leaves without you. With a JR pass, pre-booking seats on a train is no extra charge so go ahead. There's no harm.
DON'T be afraid of local buses. They scare me, but they're cheap and can take you where you want to go.
DO rent a GPS or bring along an international GPS (or smart phone with maps). This will safe you over and over again. It will save arguments with your traveling companions and will ease tension overall. If you rent one, insist on getting it even if they tell you they're out. Avis in London got one out of their case and then told us we couldn't have it. Excuse me? It's right there. Just let us take it. We had to speak to the manager but we eventually got it. (And yes, it was on our reservation right under automatic transmission.)
DO give yourself plenty of time. Time to get lost, time to find the right terminal, time for traffic, time to eat, time to go a stop or two the wrong direction on a subway before you realize it. Bottom line, it's a vacation. If you force yourself to punch a time clock, you might miss out.
DO confirm hotel parking in advance. Many European hotels even if they offer parking have very small parking lots. Some will even require you to book a parking space with your room. I advise contacting your hotel ahead to time to confirm that they have parking (if you need it), confirm the price (it's not usually free), and confirm that you can reserve a space with your hotel reservation.
DO check international laws before driving between countries. When we went to Denmark, Austria, and Germany, our plan was to drive to Prague in between Berlin and Vienna. However, we found out very quickly that cars rented in Denmark or Germany were not allowed to be driven into Eastern Europe. The iron curtain is gone for most things, but apparently vehicle crime is high enough in countries like Czech Republic that rental car companies don't want to take the chance of anything happening. Similarly, cars in Germany are required to have special stickers if you intend of driving them into the city center. Since we picked up our car in Copenhagen it didn't have the necessary German emission stickers for driving to our Berlin hotel (or any of our hotels in the city center). We were able to stop at a German auto shop who gave the car a quick look over and issued us the sticker for a minimal fee. Had we not done our research ahead of time, we could have faced huge fines in every city we drove through.
Remember: always book a backup rental car (as long as they don't ask for your credit card info), and don't be afraid to embark on a driving adventure outside the city. There are some amazing things to be seen and experiences to be had!
Thanks for reading!
- Foxy the Traveler
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